Can I get away with a one-sentence review? The Twilight Saga: Eclipse almost fully redeems this franchise. It finally brings some bite to these vampy cats and wolf cubs. It actually looks and sounds like a real movie and not some student film on a shoestring budget with a blind cinematographer. It’s still dark, gray and raining most of the time but at least it looks like a professional, finished product, which the first two films in the series lacked. It also does what a film adaptation should do – make me want to give at least this book and the concluding book another try.
This is the first movie in the series that feels complete. Here’s the inevitable but, I still can’t stand Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) the star crossed lovers the entire series is centered around. I still don’t buy their relationship, there’s absolutely no basis for it – even in the first book – which I read 150 pages of before I gave up. Their relationship is based solely on their looks, they don’t have meaningful conversations in the movie or books (that I’ve seen) where you can say yeah, they have a lot in common, or they are so opposite that you can see how they fit. No, it’s her saying “you sparkle,” and him saying “you are clumsy, I want to protect you.” It’s one of the most narcissistic relationships in literary history. Does Bella smile, EVER? I’m not talking about the half grin/grimace thing she does, I’m talking full on thousand what smile and laugh where it shows in her eyes and lights up her entire face?
It’s all the surrounding characters that make this movie shine; we get a lot more of the Cullen clan this time around. Taylor Lautner really comes into his own this time out you can really feel Jacob’s love for Bella this time. Of course I asked myself why. In the books it seems like every boy falls for her. There’s more chemistry between Edward and Jacob than between Bella and anyone else. Kristen Steward is just a terrible actress, stuck in a terrible part. It doesn’t even seem like she’s trying to bring any life or spark to Bella.
Director David Slade really gives the franchise the spark and menace it desperately needed. The Vampires are actually dangerous this time out, we get to see them actually BE vampires. The Werewolves are better realized this time around and look more fierce than they did previously. We get to find out a bit about Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) and Rosalie’s (Nikki Reed) background. The weird, non-traditional opening sucked me right in and never really let go – other than the Bella/Edward moments. While I said there is no real basis for this relationship, Eclipse at least tries to give us some context – beyond the mooning and depression. I still love Charlie (Billy Burke) and there was a lot more of him in this installment.
While I enjoyed the last act of this movie, it falls off the rails and stops making sense, at least in terms of time and consistency. They wasted time showing us Bella’s graduation, but the movies left out most of her interactions with her classmates. So I didn’t care at all about her school life. It also reminds us that these 200-year-old vampires don’t have anything better to do with their lives than just repeat high-school over and over?
Graduation leads you to believe the rest of the movie is taking place in the summer, but the climatic battle switches between Bella and Edward on a Snow Covered mountain and the field of battle that’s all green. Yeah, I get that in some places mountain areas can have snow at the top and be green at the bottom. But the way it’s done her, makes no sense. Then at the end of the movie it’s a nice summer like day and they set the wedding date a month away in August. Not being able to figure out when this movie was taking place was driving me nuts. The other major inconsistency is the whole dumb Glitter thing, I understand if they are in direct sunlight they glitter, but this wasn’t always the case and sometimes Edward glittered and other times he didn’t within the same shot/scene. Rumor has it Dakota Fanning fought hard to be in this movie and you have to wonder why. She’s in this for about 5 minutes and doesn’t do much. As a matter of fact the role of the Voltaire is completely ambiguous and pointless. It could have easily been cut out, unless it’s a vital piece to the last part. But really, do we need a two-part finale for this dumb franchise?
I wasn’t looking forward to seeing this movie AT ALL but came away enjoying a lot and that’s what good movies do – grab you by the shoulders and make you enjoy it. A strong adaptation makes you want to buy the book. The Twlight Saga: Eclipse finally gives this lifeless franchise the punch and teeth that it desperately needed. Now I feel bad for giving the poor PR rep a lot of trouble regarding the Press screening.
Final Grade B+
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 06.30.2010